HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards 2016: Emergency Medicine

Our winner aims to remove the barriers standing in the way of providing the best possible care

Emergency Medicine

Winner: The Ipswich Hospital Trust

The trust’s ‘red to green’ initiative aims to identify and remove the barriers standing in the way of providing the best possible care.

A day is designated green when the patient has received an intervention in line with their care plan, supporting their journey through to discharge. A red day is one where there has been a delay in the patient’s pathway.

Staff in wards, outpatients and theatres discuss red days in daily meetings, agreeing clear actions to unblock holdups. In addition, whole system red to green intensive support weeks are held. During these, non-urgent meetings are cancelled and teams from across the trust and care economy focus on sharing and unblocking issues in real time.

A day is designated green when the patient has received an intervention in line with their care plan, supporting their journey through to discharge

Since introducing the system, the average non-elective length of stay has fallen from 4.4 to 3.9 days; average non-elective medicine length of stay from 5.5 to 4.9 days; and community hospital length of stay from 28 days to 18 days.

Average daily discharges across medical wards have risen from 25 to 35, and A&E four hour breaches due to lack of a bed have been eradicated. In addition, the 95 per cent target has been consistently met.

Judges’ comment: A different approach to improve services with the support of staff.

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